This past weekend, the Arlington County Board voted unanimously to approve advertised public hearings on the matter of whether a portion of the Robert Ball Sr. Burial Ground should be designated as a Local Historic District.

A map of the site; the proposed historic district is outlined in blue

As UrbanTurf reported last week, the site of the burial ground at 4201 Fairfax Drive (map) is also the location of the Central United Methodist Church, which has a proposal on the table with the Ballston Station Housing Corporation to redevelop the church into an 8-story project with 132 mixed-income residential units, a new church, daycare and preschool, and non-profit space.

A rendering of the proposed redevelopment

A historic designation would cover approximately 325 square feet of the square; meanwhile, the proposed redevelopment would require that the burial ground be relocated entirely.